| Our Adoption Story |
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| Why Adoption?
We had always considered the possibility of adoption if we were not able to have a child of our own. We also had always known about the one-child policy in China and how there were huge amounts of children without parents or a place to call home. However, the December 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia emphasized the vast number of orphans in the world. We both felt so bad that there were millions of children throughout the world who didn’t have a place they can call home or parents to guide them through their lives. Shortly after that we decided to take action and considered adopting a baby girl. We know she will be a great addition to our family and will do our best to guide her to become the best person she can be. Why China? Every year tens of thousands (conservatively) of Chinese children are abandoned and end up in one of China's 40,000 welfare institutions - including orphanages. One of the causes of this abandonment is China's one-child population control policy. This policy states that couples can have only one child. Those who do not comply with the policy are punished greatly with lower priority in schooling, fines, and sometimes the loss of a job, and drastic measures like forced abortion and sterilization. Families that follow the policy are rewarded with monthly cash payments, better housing, health care, educational opportunities, and sometimes an increase in salary. The majority of China’s abandoned children are females. This is because the males inherit the family wealth and take care of the parents. Females marry and move away from the family and do not inherit family wealth. Without a son the there will be no one care for the parents and the family wealth will eventually be turned back to the government. Chinese women will often go into hiding while they are pregnant so the government is not aware or their pregnancy. They do this in fear of having a baby girl and never having a son. If the baby is a girl the only option, besides infanticide, is to leave them at one of the many orphanages in hope that they would be taken care of. Unfortunately the orphanages are extremely under funded and understaffed. These facilities are run by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs and funded by the government, institutions, and individual donations. While these orphanages do their best to take care of the children there are just too many to get adequate care. Because of that many children die in the orphanages before they ever get to have a place they can call home. We know we cannot solve this problem, but we know we can bring one child into our hearts to become part of our family. We know that a beautiful baby girl from China would be the perfect addition to our family. The Adoption Process Paperwork and more paperwork The Emotions Match Day Travel to China Coming Home Transition |
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